The ECE Quality Ireland Podcast

The ECE Quality Ireland Podcast

Sharing ideas and knowledge on all things to do with early childhood education, quality and professional practice in ECEC in Ireland and beyond. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

S6Ep2: Early Literacy, eTwinning and Nativity Plays

December 12, 2025 • 67 mins
In this episode we chat about the importance of early literacy and Celine's trip to a literacy conference, Paula's experience at an eTwinning seminar in Cyprus for promoting active citizenship in early childhood and the timely topic of nativity plays in early childhood settings at Christmas...do we do them or not?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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S6Ep1: Changes - New Aistear, New Pay, New Department

October 24, 2025 • 43 mins
In this first episode of Season 6 we catch up on all the changes affecting ECEC in Ireland over the last few months. A newly updated Aistear curriculum framework is live, new ERO mandatory pay rates for educators and a new government department and minister. Celine has opened 2 more ECEC settings bringing her total to 5 and Paula is heading to Cyprus on an eTwinning trip and to Brussels to fly the flag for STEM/STEAM in ECEC. So...

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S5Ep9: Poo and the Loo - Potty training for preschool

June 16, 2025 • 56 mins
All things poo and potty training for starting preschool! In this super interesting episode we delve into the world of poo and potty training with registered nurse Ann Costigan of 'Poo and the Loo' on Instagram. Ann shares a wealth of professional and practical knowledge about the right time to potty train, if we should use pull ups or not, her top tips for successful potty training and what to do if your child is constipated or...

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S5Ep8: Fergus Finlay - Former CEO of Barnardos Ireland

April 4, 2025 • 68 mins
We chat with Fergus Finlay, former CEO of Barnardos Ireland and columnist with the Irish Examiner about a vast array of topics including diversity, equity and inclusion, the importance of early intervention and investing in quality early childhood education. Fergus gives us insight into his homemade brown bread and we also ask him if he might consider running in the upcoming Presidential election later in 2025.

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S5Ep7: Roderic O'Gorman on Early Childhood Education

March 13, 2025 • 39 mins
Current Leader of the Green Party and former Minister for the DCEDIY, Roderic O'Gorman TD joins us on the podcast! We have a great discussion with Roderic about his time as the Minister of the Department with responsibility for the ECEC sector and his early childhood experiences which shaped him as a future member and leader of the Green Party. We also ask Roderic some important questions about recent issues impacting the ECEC se...

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S5Ep6: Inspection - The EY Education Focused Inspection

February 28, 2025 • 53 mins
In this episode we discuss the call that makes all educators nervous - the notification of the inspection calling. We discuss the education focused inspection carried out by the Department of Education and we go through the EYEI inspection guideline document. We finish up with some practical tips and key takeaways which feedback from recent inspections have highlighted as important for you to consider in your practice.

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S5Ep5: Quality School Aged-Childcare and the Importance of Play

January 31, 2025 • 39 mins
We chat with Shelly McGee who is the Quality Support Specialist for School-Aged-Childcare and Play with National Childhood Network (NCN). We discuss what school-aged childcare and afterschool care is, how to support quality and play for children in SAC and how to ensure that children in SAC are supported, valued and their voice is heard.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more ...

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S5Ep4: New Aistear! - An Analysis of the new ECEC Framework

December 10, 2024 • 43 mins
On 5th of December 2024 the eagerly awaited updated version of Aistear, the early childhood curriculum framework in Ireland, was published online by the NCCA. In this episode, we discuss the main changes to the new framework and whether or not the updates are a 'big tick' for us or not. Have a listen and find out what we think.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informatio...

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S5Ep3: Bridging the Gap Between Research and ECEC Practice in Germany

November 1, 2024 • 49 mins

We chat with Sarah Girlich about ECEC in Germany and the LaKoS project where researchers and ECEC educators in Saxony collaborate in the area of early literacy to develop resources, training and other supports for evidence based ECEC practice in an effort to bridge the gap between academic research and early childhood practice.


The LakoS is a project of the Association for the Promotion of Language and Communication in Educ...

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S5Ep2: Identifying and Communicating Developmental Concerns

October 8, 2024 • 41 mins
An insightful and interesting chat with Jenny Nechvatal, a parent of adult children with additional needs and an experienced early childhood educator, about practical strategies for supporting early intervention, sharing developmental concerns with parents/caregivers and the need for further educator training and policy support for this sensitive area of early childhood practice. Jenny is based in New South Wales, Australia and ha...

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S5Ep1: Purposeful Play

September 10, 2024 • 42 mins
In this first episode of season 5 we chat with Shannan Mulrooney, founder of Maia Purposeful Play, on the importance of facilitating intentional opportunities for open ended playful learning opportunities for young children. We focus on the importance of process over product, children's right to choose, parents attitudes to messy play and educator confidence to support open ended play and know when to stand back and observe the le...

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S4Ep5: The Graduation Ceremony - Who is it for?

May 10, 2024 • 36 mins
We discuss the end of year preschool graduation ceremony. Should we do it, how should we do it? Is it adult led or child led? Whose needs are we meeting and how can we find a balance to meet the needs of all stakeholders, children, parents/caregivers and educators?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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S4Ep4: STEAM in the Early Childhood Environment

March 28, 2024 • 39 mins
In this episode we talk about STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts and maths) in early childhood education. How and why would should we incorporate more STEAM into our ECEC practice, thinking of technology as more than screens, recognising the STEAM we already 'do' and intentionally extending children's STEAM learning using language and affordable resources we already have in most ECEC environments.

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S4Ep3: Risky Play and Guns in Early Childhood Education

March 1, 2024 • 45 mins
We have a really interesting chat with Leah Russell, early childhood lecturer, about what risky play is, how to provide for risky play and whether or not toy guns and gun play should be incorporated into the early childhood education setting.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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S4Ep2: What is the Appropriate Age to Start Primary School?

February 13, 2024 • 28 mins
With our guest. primary school teacher Dee O'Toole, we discuss the appropriate age for children to transition from early childhood education to primary school education. Why do children in Ireland start at 5 when most other OECD countries children start at 6 or 7. We wonder why some children don't avail of their second free ECCE preschool year and what impact this can have on them when they transition into primary school and beyo...

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S4Ep1: Quality ECEC - Síolta in Practice

January 17, 2024 • 28 mins
We discuss implementing and maintaining quality standards in early childhood education and how Paula's new book "Síolta in Practice" can help educators make sense of the Síolta standards and how they are already implementing many of them in their daily ECEC practice. Paula's insightful and practical book has lots of great suggestions highlighting how all areas of our knowledge, best practice guidelines, legislation and policy feed...

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S3Ep3: Establishing a New ECEC Service in Ireland

November 23, 2023 • 39 mins
Ever thought about opening up your own preschool ECEC setting and/or afterschool SAC setting in Ireland? Then this is the episode for you! From finding the right location and building to getting planning permission and Tusla certification - we chat about the important practical steps involved in opening up a new setting and making the transition from educator to owner/business person. Celine has opened up 3 settings of her own a...

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S3Ep2: Updating Aistear the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework

October 27, 2023 • 38 mins
In this episode we have an engaging and critical discussion as we review the proposed draft for updating the Aistear curriculum framework. We talk about the positives and provide our opinion on the changes including suggestions which we feel we would like to see incorporated into the forthcoming update.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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S3Ep1: Implementing a Publicly Funded Childcare Model in Ireland

September 18, 2023 • 38 mins
In this episode we discuss the recent calls within the media for a publicly funded childcare (ECEC) model in Ireland. We discuss what it might look like and how it might be implemented and compare Ireland with Norway who already have a publicly funded model in place.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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S2Ep5: Is there a Role for Artificial Intelligence in Early Childhood Education?

June 30, 2023 • 30 mins
In this episode we discuss the possibilities and pitfalls for using artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool in early childhood education and care. We think about how AI could potentially save us precious time on planning and documentation, the possibility of using facial recognition for parent or child access to the building or calculating our attendance and fees as well as utilising AI for developing our knowledge to facilitate em...

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